I got water for my first irrigation tonight. It’s so dry the land soaks up the water for a long time before it keeps flowing. Furthermore, the water level in the acequia madre keeps fluctuating, which changes the water pressure. Between bone dry land and changing water pressure, it’s going to take a long time to get everything watered tonight. I may not get everything watered tonight.
That little fuzzy head in the darkness is Mama Owl’s and Daddy Owl’s new owlet sticking its head up for the first time to say “Hello world!” I was talking to Jim between calling the owlet and taking photos, and Jim asked “Why don’t they stick their heads up when it’s light?” I told him that owls like darkness.
Mama Owl and Daddy Owl in a cottonwood in the bosque looking for Junior’s dinner.
If anyone has suggestions for names for Junior, I’m open.
“¡Hola Mundo!”
The left fork in the Y in my irrigation ditch flows through a culvert where Scrappy Skunk was sleeping. Poor Scrappy was rudely awakened by the water and he came out one end of the pipe but got offended that I was videotaping him. He crawled back in the culvert, came out the other side, went back in, and stayed in the culvert until the water got too high and finally forced him out. He was an embarrassed wet skunk when he finally climbed out of the ditch and ran off. You can watch Scrappy Skunk in all his wet glory in the video below.
I recorded the music for Loki’s Beauty Rest in 2018. It’s a parody of Jethro Tull’s Locomotive Breath. I’ve been thinking about how to do a video for the parody for a long time, especially what to do with the long introduction and the meow meow solo. I finally came up with what I thought are decent solutions. Parody Lyrics at the end of the post.
In the bustling catness Loki needs his beauty rest He’s the all-time snoozer Awakened nonetheless
Oh, I hold the dish a scraping Tie hanging off my brow Spunk’s playing with the candle And Loki won’t stop snoring No, he won’t come down No, he won’t come down
He sees those pens to knock off From the table one by one He doesn’t have to pretend In bed he’s having fun
While I’m standing in the corridor Cameras hanging on my knees Spunk’s playing with the candle And Loki won’t stop snoring No he won’t come down
[meow meow solo]
He hears the Spunk a howling Killing lids as he calls Silver the all-time whiner Has gone and lost his balls
Oh, he licks his ridiculous rival Both lying in the sun I think Spunk’s playing with the candle and Loki won’t stop snoring No, he won’t come down
No, he won’t come down No, he won’t come down No, he won’t come down No, he won’t come down No, he won’t come down
This video goes out to Brian who has the Wildlife Intrigued blog. Although Brian’s photography is exemplary, he has more than once mentioned having some fear and mistrust of felines. Spunk, the Wild Cat, will certainly confirm Brian’s suspicions. However, we cannot assume all cats are alike based on Spunk’s behavior.
As you can see from the photo below, Spunk helped me put the video together and approves the content in the video. He certifies the authenticity of all his wild catness depicted in the above video.
Wild Cat Parody Lyrics: Timothy Price Music by The Troggs
Wild cat You stomped my heart flat You make everything scary Wild cat
Wild cat, you know I want you To lie on my lap and purr So come and curl up alright? I want you
Wild cat You stomped my heart flat You make everything scary Wild cat
Wild cat, why did you claw on me? I know I petted your fur Please don’t kill me alright? You’re toothy
Wild cat You stomped my heart flat You make everything scary Wild cat
Go on, go on, wild cat. Oh don’t shake your tail. Oh please? Don’t shake your tail! Oh! You shook your tail!
I walked up to check on Fuzzy. Nora Owl was not in the nest, but Fuzzy would not look over the edge. Osric Owl was in a cottonwood about 200 feet south of Fuzzy, but he was busy looking up at something between hoots. Nora Owl was in a cottonwood about 200 feet to the northeast of Fuzzy, hooting at Osric and probably telling Fuzzy to keep his head down. The skies on the way back from visiting with the owls were nothing short of wild.
Osric Owl keeping his eye on something I couldn’t see.
Nora Owl giving me “square eyes”.
Osric Owl is looking a little thin. I think he’s overworked keeping Nora and fuzzy fed.
I made this video in 2017 with some really bloody awful vocals. I just recorded a new vocal track and updated the vocals so now they are just plain bloody awful.
Silver: “Ah! Oh my! You had to remind me!” Loki: “It was a sad time for both of us. I got blackballed or de-blackballed on the same sad day if you recall.
When he was a young cat He had big silver balls He laid out on the counter On display to one and all Ain’t seen nothing like them In any amusement hall
So guess what the vet did? She cut off his silver balls.
He laid there like Adonis He licked his silver things Feeling proud and smug He always kept them clean His pride and intuition He showed them off to all
So guess what the vet did? She cut off his silver balls.
He was a big balled wizard But with an evil twist The big balled wizard he lost his catliness
Why did we have to do it I don’t know His balls they looked so good
He didn’t have no distractions Didn’t care about buzzers and bells Surgery lights were flashing He thought he was in hell Doesn’t want a replay He never saw them fall
So guess what the vet did? She cut off his silver balls.
So we had to take on the big bally king We just took away his big ball crown from him
When he lays out on the table He doesn’t get no rest He’s cute when he’s all sprawled out You can see he’s lost his best His tail’s like a crazy weiner He never saw them fall…
So guess what the vet did? She cut off his silver balls.
Inspired by No Comment… #9 by Anakreon Kanavakis above. Lyrics by Timothy Price. Music by The Beatles.
The above sketch by Anakreon Kanavakis brought back memories of growing up during the Cold War when Mr. Kanavakis drew this sketch. The doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) was all the rage for waging a Cold War. MAD is the theory of deterrence based on the idea that if enemies have equal abilities to annihilate each other, the equilibrium will deter said enemies from launching nuclear strikes against one or the other. The proliferation of bombs and missiles was a constant source of fear and concern during the Cold War which Mr. Kanavakis illustrates so well in his sketch.
Keep in mind that Athens, Greece, where Mr. Kanavakis worked for newspapers, is much closer to Russia than the United State. I will dare to guess that the fear of annihilation from the Soviet Union was more poignant in Greece than in the USA at that time, yet doomsday seemed to be always at hand everywhere.
When I saw Marina’s post with No Comment… #9 on her anmar blog, first thing this morning, I commented with the first few lines that came to mind. Soon after that I wrote the rest of the lyrics and turned the initial inspiration into a complete parody called Lovely Missile’s Garden (lyrics at the end of the post) to the music of Octopuses Garden by The Beatles. When inspiration strikes, I take action before the inspiration slips away. After writing the lyrics, I found an instrumental version of Octopuses Garden. Between various chores, I recorded the parody and sent it off to Marina for her approval and permission to use No Comment… #9.
I took this photo yesterday. It seems fitting for today’s theme.
On April 9, 1999, after President Clinton dropped bombs on the Serbs without informing Russia, Russian President Bois Yeltsin threatened to nuke Europe. We lived in Madrid, Spain at that time and saw Yeltsin on the news making his threats. It made me think of Nikita Khrushchev’s “We will bury you!” statement in 1956 (I was not born yet). We were worried about the whole affair, but all our Spanish friends were “Meh!” Some of our friends had done their military duty with Russian troops and said that most everything the Russians had was broken down and didn’t work. They didn’t think the Russian’s bombs were capable of exploding.
I like to be, watering bombs you see In a lovely missile’s garden in the shade I know I’d win, because I’ve been Watering missile’s garden in the shade I have no friends who want to be Watering my missile’s garden with me
I like to be, watering bombs you see In a lovely missile’s garden in the shade
It would be warm (Oh so warm), from the storm (From the storm) A little blast-a-way and big shock wave (Boom! Boom!) No resting our heads (Our heads), we’d all be dead (Oh no!) A missile garden will make our grave (So sad!) We would not sing or dance around Annihilation would be profound
I like to be, watering bombs you see In a lovely missile’s garden in the shade
Without a doubt (No doubt!) we’d be blown about (All about!) Echoes fall beneath the blasting waves (So many waves!) There’s no more Joy (Killed Joy), no girls or boys (No girls or boys?) Knowing there’s nothing left but empty space (So much space). No happiness for you and me No one left to tell us what to do
I like to be, watering bombs you see In a lovely missile’s garden in the shade
I like to be, watering bombs you see In a lovely missile’s garden in the shade
Off Center & Not Even 